I’m gradually removing myself from big tech and this month I’m focusing on leaving GitHub, as well as software hosted there. I’m looking for a self-hosted music server that meets these criteria:
- Simple UI - Easy to navigate
- Docker support - For hassle-free deployment
- Runs on Pi3B
- Compatible clients on mobile and desktop
- Robust and well maintained - No buggy releases
Current Option:
The only option I’ve found but not tried is Funkwhale (GitLab).
Site: https://www.funkwhale.audio/
Review: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dBcKNoJAso.
GitHub-hosted exclusions:
All the other’s I’ve looked at are hosted on GitHub ( Ampache, LMS Lightweight Music Server, Supysonic, Gonic, Airsonic-Advanced, Koel, Jellyfin, Navidrome). So I won’t be using those.
Question:
Does anyone know of other options besides Funkwhale, or have you tried Funkwhale? Thanks!
Aside:
Some reasons I’m leaving GitHub:
As an open source software developer, this is a weird hill to die on, and I use and donate to Codeberg every month. I don’t give GitHub one penny and I don’t support anything about GitHub’s AI shit, but I do not mind them eating my costs or other peoples costs for me or them one bit. I’m not at all against having my open source code subsidized by wealthier people.
Sure, go ahead and say “if you’re poor and need github’s free services I won’t use your software” but it’s just weird. Codeberg is not a for-profit corporation, it is wrong to demand them to provide free services. It is not wrong to use to the maximum extent GitHub’s free services, imo, so long as you aren’t giving them money. Bleed em while they let you and all that jazz. It absolutely does cost them, but they don’t care so why should the less fortunate?
I appreciate your perspective and understand the pragmatic approach of avoiding costs. But I’d like to challenge the framing of this as a “weird hill to die on”.
This isn’t about individual cost benefit analysis. It’s about collective responsibility. In a world where tech companies actively enable mass surveillance and violence (see linked articles), passive reliance on them is a form of complicity (even if we don’t pay). GitHub isn’t a neutral platform. It’s a Microsoft subsidiary deeply entangled with militarised oppression.
You’re right that Codeberg isn’t a for-profit corp, and that’s exactly why it’s worth supporting. The goal isn’t to “demand” free services but to divest from systems that profit from harm. If open source only thrives when subsidised by unethical capital, then it can’t liberate us.
As for privilege: it’s a privilege to have this choice in the first place while others are being starved to death and murdered while they beg for water…
What are your thoughts on boycotting using the US dollar? Moral perfectionism in a capitalist society is a difficult road. I urge a more pragmatic approach over dogmatic, and just volunteering or performing mutual aid in your community. Or create open source software yourself.
The US dollar is a state-controlled monopoly, not a voluntary tool like GitHub. The point isn’t moral perfectionism: it’s about divesting from optional systems that actively weaponise open source.
Nobody needs to quit GitHub overnight, but ask why we hold open source to lower ethical standard than our coffee or clothes.
GitHub/MS bans developers from sanctioned countries while selling AI services to militaries. If we only resist when it’s cost-free, we’re not resisting: we’re outsourcing our ethics to Microsoft.
Lemmy is optional, and the project is hosted on Github.
https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy
I’ll have to deal with Lemmy (and Mastodon) too, but one thing at a time. My plan is to be intentional but to pace myself.